US says Pakistani 'charity' a front for banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militants

Jamat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed (centre) waving alongside others at a rally in Islamabad last month. In 2012, the United States offered a US$10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group accused of orchestrating attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. -- PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD (REUTERS) - The US State Department has named a self-proclaimed Pakistani charity as a "foreign terrorist organisation", a status that freezes any assets it has under US jurisdiction.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa calls itself a humanitarian charity but is widely seen as a front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistan-based group accused of orchestrating attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.

The designation comes as Nato troops in Afghanistan are drawing down, and regional rivals Pakistan and India compete with each other for influence with Kabul.

Some fear the competition may spill into open conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations, who have fought three wars since independence.